Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology which increases the efficiency of software installation with respect to an device.
Description of the Related Art
When newly introducing an image forming apparatus, it is necessary to perform initial installation work in advance that correspond to the usage environment of the image forming apparatus. The initial installation work may include attachment of hardware options such as finishers that conduct finishing processing of printed material, and operations such as setting operations for a control program of the image forming apparatus, validation operations for licenses of extend function, and installation of extended programs. With respect to extended programs, systems have been proposed which conduct add-in to the image forming apparatus, and which allow vendors to expand functions of the image forming apparatus. As an example of this type of system, there is MEAP (registered trademark).
Installation and setting operations for a control program of an image forming apparatus are hereinafter referred to as software installation. That is, software installation is the installation of software and setting values corresponding to the software with respect to a subject device. Software installation includes installation of setting information and extended programs with respect to the device. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-250436 discloses a print system whereby, in the case where functions of a printing device are insufficient to execute a print job that is transferred from a print server to the printing device, a notification to that effect is sent from the print server to the printing device.
Methods have been proposed for automatically conducting initial installation work according to installation instruction information by saving installation instruction information including an initial installation operation execution procedure, a control program, and an extended program to a portable external storage medium, and introducing it into the device that is to undergo initial installation work. According to this method (software installation method), it is possible to designate setting value information required for an installation instruction procedure or an installation instructions, as well as extended program and license information by an information processing apparatus that prepares and manages installation instruction information. In addition, the information processing apparatus can save the installation instruction information corresponding to the initial installation work to an external storage medium. A software installation execution instruction can then be performed to a device via the external storage device.
However, with the print system disclosed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-250436, the print server can only notify the device through a network that processing cannot be executed due to an insufficiency in the functions of the image forming apparatus. Therefore, with this print system, it is not possible to perform a processing execution instruction to a device via an external storage device.
It is also assumed that an operator conducts continuous execution of software installation for devices of multiple models and projects. Furthermore, it is considered that it is not possible to connect to a network at the initial installation work site.
It is assumed that it is forgotten to save the data (script and binary data) required in software installation for setup of that device to the external storage device when undertaking software installation with respect to a specific device in such an environment. In this case, the device cannot execute software installation even when the external storage device is inserted into the device. Therefore, after confirming the identification information (ID) of the subject device, the operator must return to the site where the information processing apparatus is disposed. Using a UI of the information processing apparatus, the operator must then carry out the troublesome operations of searching for the data to be used in the software installation of the subject device, and saving it to an external storage medium. As a result, it is impossible to efficiently execute software installation with respect to the device.